Science Fiction - The Best of the Year (2006 Edition) by Rich Horton

Author:Rich Horton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction, science fiction, alternate history, hard science, sci-fi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“It’s a nagging problem,” I agreed. “Unless you embrace your new existence, of course. Then it isn’t a problem, but a kind of bless-ing. An emblem, and a treasured part of your finished identity—”

“It costs,” she complained.

There were some stiff maintenance fees, true.

“Between the finishing and all the troubles with his new body—”

“Death would have been cheaper,” I interrupted. “That’s what you realized, isn’t it?”

The woman shuddered, a cold and familiar pain working its way down her back. But as awful as that sounded, she couldn’t argue with me. “It ate up most of their savings,” she complained.

What could I say?

“Of course, Dad eventually wanted my mother to get finished, too.”

“I see.”

“But their finances were a mess.”

“Loans are available,” I mentioned. “Because the finished person can live for another thousand years, or longer, the clinics offer some very charitable terms.”

“Except Mom didn’t want any part of that.” She was her mother’s child, and she still agreed with the scared old woman. “If you’re finished, you’re finished. You stop learning.”

“Not true.”

“Yes it is!”

“No,” I snapped back. “The new mind’s design doesn’t let fresh synapses form. But that’s why it’s so durable. Instead, you use sub-sidiary memory sinks and plenty of them, and as you learn all of the tricks—”

“He stopped changing.”

I fell silent.

R O B E R T R E E D

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2 1 3

“My father went into the clinic as a sick man,” she reported.

“And the machine that came out . . . it was a sick machine, exhausted and feeling all these phantom pains running through it . . .”

“The doctors take precautions now,” I told her. “They can limit certain sensations beforehand—”

“He’s always going to be dying . . . forever . . .”

The apartment door began to open.

“I don’t approve of you,” the friend blurted. “I just wanted to tell you, and tell you why not.”

I nodded as if I had learned something. As if I respected her honesty. Then as Bonnie stepped into the room—a wary attitude on her face and in her body—I said to no one in particular, “That’s why if you’re going to be finished, it’s best to do it before you get sick. On a good day, if you can manage it.”

I sighed.

To the floor, I said, “On your very best day, hopefully.”

My best day was a sunny, gloriously warm Thursday. High-pressure centers have this way of causing rushes at the clinics, but I’d set up my appointment well in advance. The weather was nothing but good fortune. Arriving fifteen minutes early, I wore casual clothes and an easy smile. I was rested and well fed, and since I had sworn off sex for last few days, I felt pleasantly horny—a good quality to lock into your soul. If any doubt had whispered to me, I would have post-poned the event until the doubt died. If a cloud had drifted across the sun, I would have waited in the parking lot for the shadow to pass. But the sky was a steely blue, glorious and eternal, and my only little doubt was in entering the clinic alone.

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